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Mexican cuisine is one of my favourites and with Cinco de Mayo quickly approaching it was the perfect excuse to indulge a bit! In fact, I figured that I would go all out and make a mole sauce . There are many different kinds mole sauces but perhaps the best known one is the mole poblano which contains many ingredients including chocolate. I have always been intrigued by the idea of using chocolate in a savoury dish and so as soon I heard about a mole sauce I had to try it. In this mole sauce the chocolate adds to an already complex flavour base without dominating but rather complimenting the other flavours really nicely.

If you just look at the list of ingredients and the instructions it is easy to see that this is a fairly time consuming recipe and because of that, I do not make it too often but, it is well worth the effort! The base of this mole sauce is comprised of chilies, nuts and seeds and the body is built up with onions, garlic, tomatoes, tomatillos, and even a plantain. Next up is are some spices, the chocolate and some thickeners. Despite the long list of ingredients and the time required, this recipe is pretty straight forward and easy.

One of the things that I like so much about this mole sauce, other than how tasty it is, is that you can use it in so many different dishes. I always enjoy simply serving it on chicken but it also goes well in tacos, enchiladas, etc. Now that I have my mole sauce made, I am looking forward to some tasty dishes with it over the next few days as Cinco de Mayo comes!

Mole Sauce

Prep Time: 1 hourCook Time: 2 hoursTotal Time: 3 hoursServings: 4cups

A thick and tasty chocolate mole sauce that is just filled with complex flavours.

ingredients

1 (2-3) pound chicken

1 onion, peeled and quartered

4 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil

5 ancho chilies, tops removed

5 guajillo chilies, tops removed

2 tablespoons slivered blanched almonds

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 tablespoons roasted peanuts

2 tablespoons pepitas

2 tablespoons pecans

1/2 pound plum tomatoes

1/2 pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed

1 large onion, cut into wedges

8 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons oil

1 ripe plantain, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices

1/2 cup raisins

4 cloves

1/2 star anise

1 1 inch stick of cinnamon

3 whole allspice

1 tablespoon peppercorns

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil

1 slice stale bread, toasted

2 corn tortillas, torn into small pieces

1 tablet Mexican chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup brown sugar

directions

Place the chicken, onion, garlic and salt in a large pot, cover in water and boil until the chicken is cooked, about 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken, set it aside to cool and strain the water that it was cooked in.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat. Fry the chilies until they start to change colour, about 20-30 seconds and let drain on paper towels.

Bring the chilies and 2 cups of the reserved chicken water to a boil in a large sauce pan, reduce the heat and simmer until very soft, about 30-40 minutes.

Puree the chilies in a food processor with some of the water that they were cooked in.

Strain the chili puree though a fine mesh sieve. (Note: You will need to push the the mixture to get it through the sieve.)

I tried a version of this today and decided to food process things in this order. 1st roasted dried chilies and dry roasted spices, 2nd roasted nuts and seeds ( I used pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, Hubbard squash seeds, and almonds) 3rd reconstituted dried fruit (I used dried apricots as I had not raisins) and a can of fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies, 4th toasted bread and tortillas 4th sauted garlic and onion. 5th very dark chocolate bar. this gets to a paste that I then mix with chicken broth as needed (made about 4 batches I froze 3) this order with the food processor meant I could just add the next thing I was roasting and I didn't need the coffee grinder for spices and may have been a little faster. I have never made Mole before but it is one of my favorite foods and I have watched a few women prepare it in Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico, while mine was not as good as theirs it was pretty amazing. I did not have some of the whole spices in my cupboard so I just dry roasted the ground spices, it enhanced the flavor. Thanks for the inspiration! I will definitely make it again.

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.